PJO Short Stories
by AceOfLove03
Summary: I made some adjustments to the short stories. I do not own the characters.
1. Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon 1

Leo was exhausted, he'd worked on the Argo II the whole day. His friends had said he should rest but after attaching the head of Festus on the Argo II there was something on his mind.

'Jake?', he said, he didn't need to shout since their beds were next to each other.

'Yeah?', Jake said, 'What?'

'Well… I was thinking-'

'Uh-huh, dangerous.'

'Ha-ha. No. I wanted to ask, how did Beckendorf find Festus?'

It was quiet for a long time. 'Well, I don't know, I wasn't there. But maybe you could ask Annabeth. She was there.'

Leo went outside and found Annabeth in the Athena cabin. 'Hey, Annie!' he said.

She was on Daedalus' laptop and looked up irritated. 'Whatt?', she said.

He hated it when she was irritated, it was so scary when she was irritated.

'I just wanted to ask you… Uhm… I heard you were there when Beckendorf found Festus.', he said nervous

'Yeah', she said, she was getting interested now, 'So?'

'Could you tell me how it happened?'

'Sorry. I-I don't remember it really well.', She said.

Really? Leo thought, a kid of Athena can't remember something.

'But I do think that Percy wrote about it, though. You could go and look in his cabin…', she looked sad talking about Percy. So Leo didn't ask if she wanted to come along.

'Great!', he said cheerfully, 'Time to make his cabin a mess!'

Annabeth grinned, 'You don't have to do that. He's done that himself.'

When Leo entered the cabin he was hit with a sea breeze. And when he looked around he could see what Annabeth meant. It was a mess! There were socks, shirts, pants and even boxers everywhere! He checked the nightstand. There was a little notebook in it that read: _'_ _Awesome adventures'_. He took the book and exited the cabin.

That afternoon he called a counselors meeting. With Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Connor and Travis, Clarisse, Katie, Jake and Chris.

'So. Hello. Who wants to read?', Leo asked.

'I'll do it!', Connor said.

 **Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon**

 **One dragon can ruin your whole day.**

'True', Travis said.

 **Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched, and poisoned.**

'Wow… And he's still not dead.', Nico said.

'Wish he was.', Clarisse muttered.

 **I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed, and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.**

Everybody smiled.

 **But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles 'n' Dragon Bits.**

'Definitely not the first time.', Annabeth said

 **The evening started simply enough. It was the end of June. I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another, and our camp director, Mr. D, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.**

 **After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because that evening Capture the Flag was going to be totally vicious.**

 **The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares—with my help, thank you very much—which meant that the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well . . . they're always out for blood, but this night especially.**

Everybody looked at Clarisse.

'What?!', she demanded.

 **On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes, and me—the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once, Athena and Ares—both war god cabins—were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag, and my friend Annabeth was their captain. Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.**

 **Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."**

 **"** **Will you stop calling me that?" She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback. She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.**

'He has a point there.', Jason said.

'Yeah. But it's so cute!', Piper said.

 **"** **You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armour, so it kind of hurt. Her gray eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blond ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armour, but Annabeth pulled it off.**

Annabeth smiled.

 **"** **Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position . . . like right flank, for instance . . . I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."**

 **"** **Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."**

 **She smiled. "See you on the battlefield." She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her high fives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.**

 **Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."**

 **"** **Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."**

A lot of people started to laugh.

 **"** **Nah, they always do that. If a girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."**

 **"** **Makes a lot of sense."**

 **Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."**

'Fireworks?', Piper asked.

'Think he'll explain.', Annabeth replied.

 **I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counselor for Hephaestus. He was this huge African American guy with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the fall. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach—like, the biggest dating event of the summer —made my stomach do somersaults.**

'Nobody told me about this!', Piper exclaimed.

'That's because it's not July yet…', Nico sighed.

 **Then Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big brown eyes, and when she walked, the guys tended to watch.**

 **She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.**

 **"** **Uh . . ." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.**

Jake grimaced, 'Good Ol' Beckendorf.'

 **I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."**

 **Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job. While the Apollo cabin played defense with their bows and the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders, and get the flag back to our side. Simple. Why the left flank?**

 **"** **Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."**

 **Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."**

 **He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us—bronze chameleon armor, enchanted to blend into the background.**

'Dude!, Leo said, 'That's so cool! How do you make those?'. He asked Jake.

'Well, you-', Jake was interrupted by Chris, 'Could you talk Hephaestus stuff later?', Chris said.

'Sorry.', Jake and Leo muttered.

 **If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms, and shields turned gray. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.**

 **"** **This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"**

 **"** **You got it, Captain."**

 **Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called "captain". The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.**

 **We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance— swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.**

 **"** **No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."**

 **"** **Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to get sloppy on defense, even if her team did outnumber us.**

Everybody glanced at Annabeth, who was giving them an evil look.

'You're scary Annabeth.', Jason said

 **We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get overrun sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows. We crept along the base of an oak tree. I almost jumped out of my skin when a girl's face emerged from the trunk.**

 **"** **Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.**

 **"** **Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."**

 **"** **Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.**

'Touchy.', Nico sighed.

'You're so lucky dryads can only stay I the forest.', Thalia muttered.

 **We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved. Then suddenly we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.**

 **"** **Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."**

 **I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before, but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops— four stories at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of . . .**

 **"** **Myrmekes," I muttered.**

 **That's Ancient Greek for "ants," but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack. The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armored shells glistened bloodred. Their eyes were beady black, and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped.**

'Yuck!', Piper and Katie said at the same time.

'They are pretty scary.', Annabeth agreed.

 **Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal—old armor, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.**

'Where did they get that?', Connor asked.

'I don't know man but we could you use one.', Travis said.

'Yeah. Definitely.', Connor agreed.

'Why would you-', Katie said, 'Oh whatever carry on Connor.'

 **"** **They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox." He sounded envious.**

 **"** **Don't even think about it," I said.**

 **"** **Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we . . ."**

 **His eyes widened. Fifty feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal toward their nest. It was the size of a refrigerator, all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw a face. I just about jumped out of my skin.**

 **"** **That's a—"**

 **"** **Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.**

 **"** **But that's a—"**

 **"** **Dragon's head," he said in awe.**

'Festus?', Leo asked.

'Festus.', Annabeth agreed.

 **"** **Yes. I see it."**

 **The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth, like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body—chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled. The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few inches with every tug.**

 **"** **If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them." "What?" I asked. "Why?"**

 **"** **It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"**

 **I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armor blending into the trees. I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.**

 **"** **Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on, because she was totally invisible.**

Outside the conch horn blew. It was time for dinner.

'Let's carry on after dinner.', Leo suggested.

'Sure!', everybody agreed.


	2. Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon 2

Leo was exhausted, he'd worked on the Argo II the whole day. His friends had said he should rest but after attaching the head of Festus on the Argo II there was something on his mind.

'Jake?', he said, he didn't need to shout since their beds were next to each other.

'Yeah?', Jake said, 'What?'

'Well… I was thinking-'

'Uh-huh, dangerous.'

'Ha-ha. No. I wanted to ask, how did Beckendorf find Festus?'

It was quiet for a long time. 'Well, I don't know, I wasn't there. But maybe you could ask Annabeth. She was there.'

Leo went outside and found Annabeth in the Athena cabin. 'Hey, Annie!' he said.

She was on Daedalus' laptop and looked up irritated. 'Whatt?', she said.

He hated it when she was irritated, it was so scary when she was irritated.

'I just wanted to ask you… Uhm… I heard you were there when Beckendorf found Festus.', he said nervous

'Yeah', she said, she was getting interested now, 'So?'

'Could you tell me how it happened?'

'Sorry. I-I don't remember it really well.', She said.

Really? Leo thought, a kid of Athena can't remember something.

'But I do think that Percy wrote about it, though. You could go and look in his cabin…', she looked sad talking about Percy. So Leo didn't ask if she wanted to come along.

'Great!', he said cheerfully, 'Time to make his cabin a mess!'

Annabeth grinned, 'You don't have to do that. He's done that himself.'

When Leo entered the cabin he was hit with a sea breeze. And when he looked around he could see what Annabeth meant. It was a mess! There were socks, shirts, pants and even boxers everywhere! He checked the nightstand. There was a little notebook in it that read: _'_ _Awesome adventures'_. He took the book and exited the cabin.

That afternoon he called a counselors meeting. With Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Connor and Travis, Clarisse, Katie, Jake and Chris.

'So. Hello. Who wants to read?', Leo asked.

'I'll do it!', Connor said.

 **Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon**

 **One dragon can ruin your whole day.**

'True', Travis said.

 **Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched, and poisoned.**

'Wow… And he's still not dead.', Nico said.

'Wish he was.', Clarisse muttered.

 **I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed, and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.**

Everybody smiled.

 **But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles 'n' Dragon Bits.**

'Definitely not the first time.', Annabeth said

 **The evening started simply enough. It was the end of June. I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another, and our camp director, Mr. D, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.**

 **After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because that evening Capture the Flag was going to be totally vicious.**

 **The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares—with my help, thank you very much—which meant that the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well . . . they're always out for blood, but this night especially.**

Everybody looked at Clarisse.

'What?!', she demanded.

 **On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes, and me—the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once, Athena and Ares—both war god cabins—were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag, and my friend Annabeth was their captain. Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.**

 **Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."**

 **"** **Will you stop calling me that?" She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback. She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.**

'He has a point there.', Jason said.

'Yeah. But it's so cute!', Piper said.

 **"** **You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armour, so it kind of hurt. Her gray eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blond ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armour, but Annabeth pulled it off.**

Annabeth smiled.

 **"** **Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position . . . like right flank, for instance . . . I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."**

 **"** **Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."**

 **She smiled. "See you on the battlefield." She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her high fives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.**

 **Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."**

 **"** **Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."**

A lot of people started to laugh.

 **"** **Nah, they always do that. If a girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."**

 **"** **Makes a lot of sense."**

 **Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."**

'Fireworks?', Piper asked.

'Think he'll explain.', Annabeth replied.

 **I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counselor for Hephaestus. He was this huge African American guy with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the fall. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach—like, the biggest dating event of the summer —made my stomach do somersaults.**

'Nobody told me about this!', Piper exclaimed.

'That's because it's not July yet…', Nico sighed.

 **Then Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big brown eyes, and when she walked, the guys tended to watch.**

 **She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.**

 **"** **Uh . . ." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.**

Jake grimaced, 'Good Ol' Beckendorf.'

 **I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."**

 **Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job. While the Apollo cabin played defense with their bows and the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders, and get the flag back to our side. Simple. Why the left flank?**

 **"** **Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."**

 **Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."**

 **He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us—bronze chameleon armor, enchanted to blend into the background.**

'Dude!, Leo said, 'That's so cool! How do you make those?'. He asked Jake.

'Well, you-', Jake was interrupted by Chris, 'Could you talk Hephaestus stuff later?', Chris said.

'Sorry.', Jake and Leo muttered.

 **If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms, and shields turned gray. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.**

 **"** **This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"**

 **"** **You got it, Captain."**

 **Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called "captain". The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.**

 **We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance— swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.**

 **"** **No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."**

 **"** **Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to get sloppy on defense, even if her team did outnumber us.**

Everybody glanced at Annabeth, who was giving them an evil look.

'You're scary Annabeth.', Jason said

 **We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get overrun sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows. We crept along the base of an oak tree. I almost jumped out of my skin when a girl's face emerged from the trunk.**

 **"** **Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.**

 **"** **Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."**

 **"** **Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.**

'Touchy.', Nico sighed.

'You're so lucky dryads can only stay I the forest.', Thalia muttered.

 **We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved. Then suddenly we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.**

 **"** **Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."**

 **I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before, but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops— four stories at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of . . .**

 **"** **Myrmekes," I muttered.**

 **That's Ancient Greek for "ants," but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack. The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armored shells glistened bloodred. Their eyes were beady black, and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped.**

'Yuck!', Piper and Katie said at the same time.

'They are pretty scary.', Annabeth agreed.

 **Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal—old armor, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.**

'Where did they get that?', Connor asked.

'I don't know man but we could you use one.', Travis said.

'Yeah. Definitely.', Connor agreed.

'Why would you-', Katie said, 'Oh whatever carry on Connor.'

 **"** **They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox." He sounded envious.**

 **"** **Don't even think about it," I said.**

 **"** **Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we . . ."**

 **His eyes widened. Fifty feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal toward their nest. It was the size of a refrigerator, all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw a face. I just about jumped out of my skin.**

 **"** **That's a—"**

 **"** **Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.**

 **"** **But that's a—"**

 **"** **Dragon's head," he said in awe.**

'Festus?', Leo asked.

'Festus.', Annabeth agreed.

 **"** **Yes. I see it."**

 **The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth, like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body—chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled. The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few inches with every tug.**

 **"** **If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them." "What?" I asked. "Why?"**

 **"** **It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"**

 **I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armor blending into the trees. I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.**

 **"** **Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on, because she was totally invisible.**

Outside the conch horn blew. It was time for dinner.

'Let's carry on after dinner.', Leo suggested.

'Sure!', everybody agreed.


End file.
